Indigo & Paper

Practical writing about paper, letters, journals and the machines that cut them. Everything here is written from what actually happens on the desk.

• Why Habit Trackers Stop Getting Filled In

  The grid fails in a specific, predictable way around day nine. Here is the mechanism and three layouts that avoid it.

• What Makes a Letter Worth Keeping

  Five things the letters people actually keep have in common, and why none of them is good handwriting.

• Why a Welded Monogram Falls Apart on the Mat

  Three failures, none of them the machine's fault. How to tell which one you have from what the vinyl did.

• Four Questions to Ask About a Font Licence Before You Sell Anything

  "Free for personal use" and "commercial licence included" are not the two ends of a spectrum. Here is what actually determines whether you can sell the mug.

• Fold an Envelope From One Square Sheet

  The four-fold square envelope, the sizing rule that stops you wasting paper, and the paper weights that actually survive the post.

• A Desk That Makes You Write by Hand

  Handwriting does not compete with the laptop on quality. It competes on friction, and friction is a physical property of the desk.

• Five Bullet Journal Spreads That Earn Their Page

  Most spreads are decoration with a grid on it. These five change a decision you would otherwise make badly.

• What Makes a Script Font Weld Cleanly on a Cricut

  Three properties decide whether a monogram welds into one shape or falls apart on the mat. You can check all three before you buy.

• How to Address an Envelope So It Actually Arrives

  Where the sorting machine looks, which decorative choices cost you a delivery, and how to write an address that survives automation.